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Marin court asked to remove some opposition claims to SMART initiative

MARIN, Aug. 27, 2008 -- Charles McGlashan, Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit district board chairman, today filed paperwork asking a Marin Superior Court to remove seven statements issued by opposition to the SMART Measure Q commuter rail initiative on the November ballot.

“There is precedence for this,” said Chris Coursey, SMART community outreach manager. “We believe that the opposition’s argument has deliberately false and misleading language.”

A tentative ruling is set for Sept. 5 and a hearing is set for Sept. 8, which is the day the judgment will have to happen in order to get the information to the Registrar of Voters in time for the printing and mailing of the voter information for the November election.

Mike Arnold, co-chair of Marin Citizens for Effective Transportation opposing Measure Q, said the lawsuit is an attempt to intimidate opponents and try to keep their arguments away from voters.

“We expect the judge to throw out the argument,” Mr. Arnold said. “They are trying to get us to spend money on legal fees, instead of on our campaign.”

Mr. McGlashan, who is also a member of the Marin County Board of Supervisors, said that in addition to the seven statements he says are wrong, there are more misrepresentations.

“When I read the anti-Q ballot argument, I was amazed at how much they were distorting the truth,” Mr. McGlashan said.

One of Mr. McGlashlan’s main concerns is the claim that there will be freight trains 60 cars in length running through Marin at all hours, which he said is false. In addition, he said there is no way freight could run south of Highway 37 and that those trains will actually turn off the SMART line at Novato.